Theater Schmeater Announces Their 2012 Season

Theater Schmeater is celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a season of rarely seen plays.

The New Year is ushered in by the West Coast Premiere of Cradle and All by Daniel Goldfarb – "a sleek urban comedy where neighboring couples display radically different reactions to the crying of a baby. Claire and Luke use the distraction from across the hall as an inadvertent springboard to explore the foundation of their relationship, and discover that procreation might provide obstacles to their high end careers and perhaps to their love as well. Meanwhile, across the hall, Annie and Nate are searching for less prosaic answers, like how to sleep all night in the face of their crying baby, and the difference between expectations and reality when love is in the equation."

Cradle and All opens January 20th and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through February 18th.

In March of 2011, Theater Schmeater, in association with Staley Productions, offered the World Premiere weekend workshop production of Natalie Symons’ three women play Lark Eden. On March 16, 2012, will open Lark Eden for a full run. The story of three Southern women’s lives irrevocably intertwined by friendship, tragedy, and the irresistible compulsion of life, Lark Eden is a powerful illustration of life’s ebbs and flows through decades of private and national history. Fresh from successful East Coast productions, Lark Eden with be directed by the author, Natalie Symons.

Lark Eden will open on March 16th and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through April 14th.

In April, Theater Schmeater will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a groundbreaking production of an old Schmee favorite. In conjunction with ACT Central Heating Lab, 2012’s edition of The Twilight Zone: Live! will be presented in ACT’s Bullitt Cabaret Theater. "This exciting new enterprise will allow Theater Schmeater to offer its iconic production to wider audiences in a larger venue. While much of this production will be new, the 2012 edition of The Twilight Zone: Live! will be directed by Zone fans’ favorite Tim Moore who will also reprise his performance as “Rod”. Three of the historic TV episodes will be offered for a night full of fun, fright, and nostalgic cold war paranoia."

The Twilight Zone: Live! opens at ACT on April 6th and runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through April 28th.

About the show: When a troubled, but handsome youth comes to your door looking for lodging, how can you resist him? In Joe Orton’s dark comedy Entertaining Mr. Sloane, moral ambiguity reigns supreme as Mr. Sloane tumbles with geriatrics, gangsters and lusty middle aged tarts. Quintessentially as British as Bangers and Mash, Orton’s keen wit and social skepticism resonates down the decades.

A Seattle Premiere, Entertaining Mr. Sloane opens on May 18th and runs through June 16th.

The Annual Free For the Family Park Show ushers in the beautiful Seattle summer with Hansel and Gretel. Not your grandmother’s H & G, this pantomimic adaptation by Sally Gander tells you the rest of the story of what happens to the siblings after they stuff the moley old witch into the oven, turn the knob to broil, and return to a highly dysfunctional family life. A couple of comic crooks, a revengeful sister witch, and a bubbling British Bobby all add up to a cool summer diversion for hot summer afternoons.

Hansel and Gretel by Sally Gander opens on Saturday June 30th and runs on Saturdays and Sundays through August 5th. Directed by Julia Griffin, Hansel and Gretel is presented at the Amphitheater in Volunteer Park at 5:00 p.m.

Parallel Lives, based on Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney’s 1989 stage show and a 1991 HBO special by the same name runs parallel to our park show at The Schmee. From angels discussing God’s interior decorating choices for the world to West Texas bar patrons, Parallel Lives offers a talented cast of two the chance to create a multitude of characters to delight and confound. After 20 years, Parallel Lives (updated with new material in 2005) still rings true as a penetrating look at Americana.

Parallel Lives opens on July 13th and runs on Fridays and Saturdays through August 11th. Directed by Kerry Christianson (who directed Schmee’s summer hit Pageant Play in 2009). Parallel Lives will be presented at Theater Schmeater, which is air conditioned for summer delight.

About the show: Arguably the greatest American writer, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) never tried his hand at legitimate theater, or did he? Is He Dead?, was slated for productions in London and New York in 1898, but was withdrawn in both cities before it saw the stage. A manuscript was discovered in 2003, which was adapted by David Ives, and produced in 2007. Proving the old adage, “I know Art when I see it…and I know Art’s more valuable if the painter is dead!”, Is He Dead? not only proves the comic genius of America’s greatest satirist, it also proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Is He Dead?, by Mark Twain and adapted by David Ives opens on September 14th and runs through October 13th.

The Still Waiting for Permission to Produce Show opens on November 16th and runs until December 15th. The best laid plans of platypus and producers often go astray, so stay tuned for further information on our efforts to dazzle and distract in the pre-holiday period.

General tickets reserved and purchased in advance for all in-house shows (The Twilight Zone: Live! tickets will be available directly from ACT) are $18.00 for general admission and $15 for Students and Seniors. Tickets purchased at the door are $23.00 and $18.00 for Students and Seniors. Advance tickets for all in house productions are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by phone at 1-800-838-3006. Thursdays are pay-what-you-can at the door for same day available unreserved tickets.

Tickets purchased for the Twilight Zone: Live!, presented at ACT and co-produced by The Central Heating Lab will be available through ACT Theatre at acttheatre.org or by calling 206-292-7676.

Hansel and Gretel, Theater Schmeater’s Free For the Family Park Show, will be presented at the Volunteer Park Amphitheater at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. All Performances are Free.

Theater Schmeater is located at 1500 Summit Ave., between Pike and Pine on Capitol Hill in Seattle. For more information about our exciting 2012 Season or any other Theater Schmeater event, please go to www.schmeater.org or call 206-324-5801.